Renaissance Secrets: Recipes and Formulas

by Jo Wheeler

From recipes for aphrodisiacs to formulas for everything from lip balm to stain removers to paint pigments, this book unveils the secret world of Renaissance lotions and potions. Clothbound with marbled endpapers and superbly illustrated with relevant objects from the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Renaissance Secrets reveals a myriad of concoctions once used to create medicines, cosmetics, printing materials, even amulets meant to ward off the plague.
New and extensive research offers intriguing insights into the use of obscure, exotic and toxic ingredients and explains now-unfamiliar or arcane techniques. Renaissance Secrets reveals the compelling stories behind the original recipes.

Genres: History

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take 6 unpierced pearls, as much gum tragacanth as you like, and a walnut shell filled with egg white... those of us who read cookbooks like novels will swoon at instructions for raising silkworms, making anti-poison oil, and concocting red hair oil - all illustrated... with objects from the V&A Museum and with brief essays on the significance and history of each procedure. YUM.Read More

[Bronwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly fantastic.